"Alright then," Kazuya said, "where do we start?"
"Don't look at me; this was your idea," replied Orihime.
"But I haven't been here before," responded Kazuya.
"Neither have I," Orihime replied, "but here we are." Let's first find a place where we can rest our heads. Then maybe from there, we can start worrying over what to do."
Kazuya concurred before they entered the village, wondering what sort of carnival was going on at the moment. It felt like a festive season, with people donning different costumes and attire. They watched as masquerades processed strangely, with women barely dressed accompanying them, visually wooing the eyes and hearts of all the male spectators on the street sides.
Kazuya and Orihime walked together, heading down the streets at almost the same pace as the various processions.
"What are we doing?" Kazuya asked. "We are just walking aimlessly, and it has been almost half an hour since we got here!"
"Patience, big man," replied Orihime. "Look around; can't you find an inn anywhere?"
"Can't we just ask people for directions?" he replied.
"The old man warned us about these people, big man," she said to him. "We can't just ask random people on the street where an inn is."
"So what do you suggest, woman?" he asked.
"Look at that," she said to him, pointing at a tall building that had grabbed her attention.
"A brothel?" he asked with a funny gaze. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"We are going to spend the night there," she replied to him.
"Wait a second." I'm not going there," objected Kazuya. "What on earth do you take me for?"
"What?" she asked, surprised by his sudden repulsion towards her. "Haven't you been to a brothel before?"
"Of course, I haven't—I had a wife," he replied with reddened cheeks that amused Orihime.
"Well, what happened before you met your wife?" "How did you help yourself back then?" she asked with a mischievous grin.
"I never even thought of that before I met my wife!" he yelled at her, breathing intensely like an angry animal.
"Whoa! "Calm down, big man," she replied. "I was just teasing you!"
"Why do we have to go to a brothel?" "What are you trying to achieve by doing this?" he asked.
"There are often rooms available for nightly rental at brothels," she replied. "Since we haven't had luck finding an average inn or at least tavern with rooms for rent, I thought this might be our only choice." "So unless you want to keep wandering in a strange land for most of the night, we are going to the brothel."
Kazuya sighed. "Fine," he replied, "but on one condition: that we will each rest in different rooms."
Orihime arched a brow in mischief. "Oh, so you do want to get down, don't you?" she asked.
"Shut up, woman!" he yelled at her.
"Come on, let's go," she said to him. "Unless you have the money to afford separate rooms for the both of us, we are sleeping in the same room."
"Damn it," Kazuya swore.
"I wonder, is that part of the reason why you refused to return to town with me that night? "Because you were afraid of sharing a room with me?" she asked, trying to hold back her laughter while Kazuya reddened, trying to ignore her teasing.
"Don't worry, big man. "I won't try to do anything strange to you," she said to him, "but you need to loosen up a bit." "We might end up working together for a long time, you know."
Kazuya remained silent as they walked to the brothel. The two of them got in, and Kazuya tried to keep his focus on Orihime as the number of women calling out to him was very distracting.
They were dressed most seductively, calling out to him in an alluring manner, and he hated it.
"Can't you walk a little faster?" he asked Orihime. "I don't like this place."
"Says the man who will be spending the rest of the night here with me," she teased.
"Stop trying to make things weird," Kazuya said to her, "and where is the person in charge of taking us in?" "I can't stand this place."
"Right ahead of us, big man," she said to him.
After a few more steps, they finally got to the counter, where a beautiful middle-aged woman was reclining. She looked at the both of them with a charming smile. "You want a room for the both of you?" she asked.
"You guessed right, ma'am," Orihime replied as she placed a hand on Kazuya's chest and used the other to hold him close. "I and my husband need a place to rest," she said. Kazuya wanted to protest but felt Orihime's fingers pinch into him sharply from behind, prompting him to play along with her.
She did this to avoid having to explain why they both needed to have a room alone in a brothel. If they went there as normal travelers who happened to be working together, it would have been difficult to secure a private room for just the two of them, as it wasn't a typical inn.
"I'd take that to mean that you both need a room to yourselves," the woman said as she reached down to get their keys with a name tag on them.
She then handed the keys over to Orihime, who gave her a small pack of silver as payment.
"You are lucky to have such a fine man as a husband," the woman said. "Your room is upstairs, the first room to the left." "I have a lot of experienced women to keep him company, but since you wish to have the fine man all to yourself, at least take good care of him, alright?"
"You bet I will," Orihime said, as she went with the keys. "He is my husband."
But the attendant didn't buy it. So she told Kazuya, "Don't hesitate to call on me if this woman fails to satisfy you." "I have several beautiful women who are eager to give you comfort."
Orihime felt somewhat insulted by this, though she had no grounded reasons to be. The two of them headed to their room upstairs, and by the time they got to higher ground, Kazuya had pushed Orihime aside, as he wasn't comfortable with her clinging on to him like that.
She angrily pushed him back as she went forward to open the door. First, the woman at the counter looked down on her, and now Kazuya did the same; it felt unbearable for her.
She opened the door and was taken aback by how tidy and organized the room was. Everything was designed for two people in intimacy, something neither of them was looking forward to but had to manage.
She looked back at Kazuya: "What are you waiting for, big man?" "Come on in," she said to him as she went deep inside and sat on the bed, looking around.
Kazuya stepped in as well, also stunned by the way the room was fashioned, wondering how they would be able to sleep comfortably in a bed like that.
He went forward and began unpacking his belongings and weapons, keeping all of them in the corner of the room. After doing that, he brought forth his large cloak and laid it on the ground, ready to lie on it.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"About to get ready to sleep," he said. "You should do the same; we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Why don't you want to sleep here?" she asked.
"That bed is too small for the both of us," Kazuya replied, "so you can sleep on the bed while I rest on this."
"You cute idiot," she cursed quietly.
"What?" reacted Kazuya, not knowing what she just said.
"Nothing," she replied as she turned herself towards his side, facing him.
"So what happens tomorrow?" she asked him. "We don't know of any guild in this area, and we didn't see signs of any on our way here."
"Let's leave tomorrow's worries for tomorrow," Kazuya replied, "today has been crazy enough already."
Orihime remained silent for a few minutes before calling on Kazuya again. "Kazuya?" she called him.
"What is it?" he asked.
"If we succeed in finding the goblin's hideout and slaying all of them—when all is said and done, what happens next for the both of us?" she asked.
"We both go our separate ways and do whatever we want," Kazuya replied bluntly, "...nothing more."
"Oh, right," she replied, wondering why she asked that, "sorry for asking such a stupid question."
Kazuya thought about it and realized that, after everything gets done, he wouldn't have anything else to do in this world anymore. Everything precious to him in this world had been taken away from him, and the only thing keeping him there was his thirst for vengeance against those responsible for it.
After that, he would have nothing left to live for, and the best solution for him to escape the lingering trauma would be to log out of the game and into his other life, where he at least had people to call family, friends who cared about him, and a place to call home.